If you caught yesterday's post, you saw that we had a sneak peek of a new review format that we're bringing to you. Today we thought we'd give you another chance to check it out before we officially roll out the red carpet on it, so we're doing an old/new review of the Haven Acres Mini Collection by A Jennuine Life Designs. The designer is offering a sweet deal for fans right now too! 20% off with code "Revolution" HERE. We also have bonus pics, which is always a treat, right?

Here are Katie and Ari with their reviews, with additional photos by Leonie and Marnie.

Hi guys! It’s Katie, and today I am going to be reviewing the fun new line by Jennuine Design. The Haven Acres Collection includes the Dressage Leggings, the Haven Acre Blouse (which is peasant shirt meets peplum), and the adorable Sweet Pea Cap. These are all very well written, all-inclusive patterns with lots of detail; I’m totally impressed!

The collection has an equestrian vibe going on, which my little girl really got into when she tried on the completed outfit (she rode a horse once at a birthday party and has now informed me that’s what she wants). The panels in the legs are an awesome detail; they add a unique touch to basic leggings and offer more opportunity to play with fabric. The pattern has pieces for basic leggings and the panelled leggings as I have made. The basic leggings would be great for a beginner, while the curves of the panels might make this more of an advanced beginner- intermediate pattern.

The Haven Acres Blouse is a peasant shirt with gathered sleeves (short or long), a keyhole neckline and a peplum-like flounce. These details all make for a new and interesting pattern, and I love the finished product! I added a couple rows of cotton lace down the front to break up my busy horse fabric. The pattern also comes with an option for a button placket for babies’ big noggins. This pattern has lots of detail, and might take some time, but would be suitable for a beginner.

Finally (my daughter’s favorite part!), we have the Sweet Pea Cap. Sweet, indeed. This is a four panel cap with the most adorable little pony ears poking out. The smallest size includes a chin strap to hold it on babies’ heads. My 6 year was in bed by the time I got around to cutting out my pattern pieces, and so I foolishly didn’t measure her head. I thought I was safe with the medium, which ranges sizes 3T-6 , but my petite daughter has a very tiny head. It’s a little loose, but that didn’t keep her from wearing it, and she has plenty of growing room. This pattern would be suitable for an advanced beginner.

All in all, this is a great group of patterns that definitely should be included in your pattern library.

Happy sewing!

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Morning! I don’t know about you but from the moment I saw the Haven Acres mini collection on Jen’s blog I nearly died. Seriously, its so cute! I’ve been almost obsessively stalking the development of the patterns this last month and a half and it’s been so exciting to see new versions of it pop up as various testers showed off what they were making. You can imagine how excited I’ve been when I was given the chance to review this!

The Haven Acres Mini Collection is made up of the Haven Acres blouse, the Dressage leggings and of course the very iconic Sweet Pea cap which features little pony ears. Things like hats can seem a little intimidating, but Jen walks you through the steps so simply I was actually a little shocked when I realised that all the fabric I had started with was already a cap. Both the leggings and the blouse come with several variations which is always a huge plus for me even though I usually end up making 20 of the same thing. All the patterns are for ages newborn to 12+ years and for me I see the cap and the leggings as being very unisex!

The Sweet Pea cap is fully lined and absolutely ridiculously adorable. You can sew it with or without the chin strap; the strap makes it more like a riding helmet but I opted for without. For Eddie’s I used black denim from an old pair of jeans, she is 2 and a half and I sewed up the Small for her. It’s a loose fit on all those bouncy curls but her head is only going to get bigger. The tutorial pictures are computer illustrated which I personally find much clearer to follow and figure out what I am actually holding and what I am meant to do with it. I sewed up two of these hats in an evening and they went without a hitch! I found the instructions completely flawless and so easy to follow without being too much information all at once. Definitely take a leap of faith and sew this hat up, even if all you can sew is a straight line (let’s be real here, sometimes even I struggle with straight lines!).

Coming in several options, the Dressage Leggings are a fantastic jodphur-inspired pattern but also tagging along with it is a basic leggings pattern. It’s pretty rad, probably the only leggings pattern I’ll be using now that I have it all printed out! There are higher-rise patterns for the younger babes to cover that diaper booty but there’s also the regular rise from sizes 2T up for your toilet trained littles (Sizes 2T and 3T come in both variations!). I may or may not have made several pairs already... Three pairs for Eddie and a pair for my son also since he’s obsessed with leggings and skinny jeans... There are a lot of tips about sewing with knits and what knits are recommended, super helpful for anyone that is still intimidated by sewing with stretch fabric!

Lastly the Haven Acres blouse was a quiet little surprise for me. I’m not normally into blousey tops but after sewing this little baby up and buttoning Edison into it I think i’m more than a little converted! You can make this blouse out of almost any fabric you want, I’ve seen some great colour-blocked versions and also in knits although I opted to sew this one up in an fun geometric rainbow cotton poplin. There are several sleeve options, I chose the short sleeves since it’s summer over here, as well as back options to have it with buttons/snaps or just without a closure. The neckline is finished with bias binding and you can have the keyhole opening at the front with a tie, a small button or closed completely like in this version I sewed. I really, really love the way this blouse turned out (okay Iove how it ALL turned out) and my suddenly super fussy and super girly princess ballerina daughter (I don’t even know how that happened) actually LOVES this outfit.

What I love about Jennuine Designs patterns is how professional and straightforward everything is. Sometimes I get confused in patterns and have to really sit and think about what the heck I am doing but with all three of these patterns, following the instructions was a dream. The only errors I had was in my own sewing (hey who knew that lining goes on the INSIDE of things? haha). In the shop you can view the testers' creations (which i love because it helps think about all the different ways you can sew a pattern up), a preview of the instructions, size charts, fabric charts, technical drawings, recommended fabrics. Basically everything you need to know if the pattern is going to work for you or not.

I seriously highly recommend all of these patterns, it was love from start to finish!

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Now for some additional photos from Marnie...